Review: Devoted: The Complete Series by Sadie Black
Contemporary Romance/ Romantic Thriller
Released: July 24, 2015
Self- Published

Reviewed by Sheena

Brianna Hendricks has lived a wild life full of fast men and fun nights. That is, until her best friend Kendra Cole settled down and moved on from her job at the diner. Now Brianna is feeling left behind. In a dead end job, with no education, and nearing thirty, her options seem to be narrowing by the day.

Nearly two years after they met at the Zervion MADD Art Auction, billionaire Bradley Sheppard waltzes back into Brianna’s life…literally. After asking her to dance, a whirlwind romance begins. However, Brianna wants more than a few nights of heat and passion. She wants stability. She wants a promising future. She wants Bradley.

But, can Mr. Sheppard commit to Brianna as he’s promised? Or will his dual life in another city destroy the only relationship that Brianna has ever had?

Favorite Quote: Kendra’s bridesmaids, each of her brother’s wives look like they just got off a long shift at Walmart with their discount jeans and bargain bin tops.

Like cowboy/western romance or anything involving food as a carnal pleasure device see here, Romantic Thrillers tend to make it to the bottom of my TBR pile. Like way to the bottom. Like I don’t really bother reading them, unless they have exceptional reviews or are recommended by two out of the three reviewers I would follow to Hades if they said they read a good book there.  The cover caught my eye and the blurb was persuasive, I didn’t get the “thriller” part until after I had already started reading, so by then I was all, “why the hell not!” and pressed on.  I regret nothing! Lies.  This is a box set, three parts comprise the entire novel and I sincerely regret reading all three blurbs! I hate that I spoiled this for myself. So if you are remotely considering reading this complete set, do not read all three blurbs, save yourself and stop at the first one and then dive in- it’s good. 

Brianna is a deep and vulnerable heroine.  Cast off by her judgmental, cruel father and emotionally unavailable mother, Brianna picks her self up and faces her demons with a bravery and single-minded focus that I found admirable.  She makes (a lot of ) mistakes, but she is beautifully human and her inner dialogue was funny, even when she found herself in the darkest of places.  Surviving despite her dysfunctional circumstances made her inner light shine like a beacon – attracting the darkly handsome billionaire Bradley Shepherd.  He was a moth to her fire and they both nearly burned from their attraction.

There is intrigue and a crazy lunatic that gives Devoted an edge that does not take itself so seriously, yet adds shadows to what would otherwise have been a hokey “billionaire and poor girl fall in love” serial.  Fool that I am, I knew much of what to expect when I first started the novel, which clouded my perception and expectations in a way that I wish I had been immune to, free to be caught by surprise by the different plot twists and OMG moments.  I like you, I want you to learn from my folly, so I will skirt around the major plot developments and instead talk about how cool this little novel turned out to be.  Sadie Black is a new-to-me author and what the novel lacked in polish it made up for in substance.  No frills, just damned good words on paper.  Chock full of melodrama and passion- lusty, dirty and smutty- with a little familial strife tossed in- just how I like my pleasure reads.  Bradley and Brianna have alternative points of view, and insight into his side of things made me loathe and love him over and over, until I could barely stand my own wavering allegiances.  One thing is for sure, no matter whose side you take, it was always a treat when these two would get on the same page:

I’m so happy I decided to wear something sexy underneath my dress today instead of some high-waisted pantyhose or Spanx.  I don’t think either of those would’ve been nearly as sexy to be ripped off me in the coat room.  My pussy clenches as I remember the feeling of my lace thong being stretched to its limit across my hip until it gave under Bradley’s strength…No guy has ever torn off my panties like that before…

I will never look at my control top pantyhose again.  I may now toss them out just on principle.  Worth a billion dollars and worth every sexy buck, Bradley was a man accustomed to getting what he wanted, when he wanted, he often finesses circumstances to best suit- him (duh) but what he wasn’t prepared for was meeting his match in the cocoa brown woman who sees stars in his eyes.  I was concerned early on that Brianna was of the gold digging variety and had my guard up regarding her intentions.   I have a short list of deal breakers when it comes to allowable characterizations and  gold digging chicks with nefarious intentions ranks pretty high, right below baby/pregnancy capers and relationships based on bald faced lies.  If I believed for a moment that Brianna was just looking for a meal ticket I would have been turned completely off the sound of my DNF resounding throughout the…you get my point.  I loved their dynamic.  How they save each other, how she is not his toy and he has to put in significant effort  to earn her.  It is so easy for the wayward, lost pretty girl to be a foregone conclusion, but despite her desire for him, she has standards.  To many of these doe eyed girls are swept away by their billionaire lovers, but there was spark and spunk in Brianna’s eyes and the beast in Bradley recognized  her allure and rose to the occasion.

I kiss her gently, tasting her lips slowly.  I can’t stand to see her sad. I want to kiss away her misery, to take away her pain.  Sometimes I feel like she’s keeping me at arm’s length, and I only know half the story.  I can’t help but wonder how much more time it’ll take before she let’s me in.

Oh dear Bradley, deep pockets and deep emotion all bottled up into one irresistible package. *sigh* What’s a man to do when his American Express Black Card can not make the trouble- or danger– go away.

Devoted was rich in character development and to my extreme pleasure, Black did not skimp on the plot development either!   The supporting characters are essential to the storyline, and the plot moved at a quick and steady pace, everything was solid and nothing read like padding or plot fodder.  Brianna nor Bradley are the same people by the end of part three, who we were introduced to in part 1.  They evolve, mature and grow together. They survive and face together what they would have hidden from alone.  They go through some crazy shit.  Some of it made me cringe, laugh and raise my eyebrows to the ceiling.  Admittedly, some of the one liners from Bradley were a little corny, and the ultimate climax required some extra suspension of reality but that is all so easily forgivable, I only include it to demonstrate what little issue I took with the series-novel.  With more experience and polish she easily rivals the giants in her genre.  I am fully invested in the Sadie Black experience and can not wait to see what she releases next. With Devoted, she made her own lane and presented something substantive and unique within a very formulaic trope that would have usually gone overlooked.  Super stoked I took a peek.

Grade: A-

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